Turkey's Erdogan falls asleep during live press conference with Ukraine president

The Turkish leader nodded off several times while the Ukrainian president gave his speech.

Turkey's president Erdogan struggles to stay awake during briefing in KievReuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fell asleep during a live press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Kiev on Monday, 9 October. The Turkish leader was also seen yawning as Poroshenko spoke to reporters.

Erdogan was on an official visit to Ukraine during which he held talks with the nation's leader as the two spoke on a range of bilateral topics and also signed key deals.

Nevertheless, in the short video from the joint press conference, Erdogan was seen nodding off several times while Poroshenko was making his remarks. At one point of time, Poroshenko was also seen tapping the table, as if to wake up Erdogan.

The short recording was originally noticed by a journalist working with the Kurdistan 24 channel and was later shared on social media.

In the earlier part of the visit, Erdogan expressed his support to Ukraine in matters regarding territorial integrity in the contested Crimean peninsula.

At the height of the Ukrainian crisis, Crimea became a part of Russia under a tense political atmosphere in 2014. While Ukraine and the western world severely condemn the act, calling it a forceful annexation, Moscow defended the move by saying that the residents of Crimea chose to be a part of Russia.